Cheng Fei paused.
“Don’t think pretending to be embarrassed will let you dodge the issue.
I don’t remember receiving any photos or videos from you.”
“Photos or videos are obviously impossible.”
Shen Xi looked back.
“But did you forget the previous research project?”
“You gave me five or six projects last month.
Some of them inflicted psychological trauma.
Which one?”
“The experiment involving staring at the appearance of someone of the opposite sex inside the game and recording psychological and physiological changes.”
Cheng Fei thought.
“You mean when you dragged me to a hillside outside the capital and made us sit there staring at each other?”
“Correct.
I deliberately wore clothing conducive to producing psychological and physiological fluctuations in you.”
“Uh…
You mean the dress with terrible back protection and those boots that reached your thighs?”
“And the hair ornament and bracelet.”
“Next time, at least wear tights.
White ones preferably.
I’m not especially interested in long boots.”
Cheng Fei’s gaze accidentally drifted over Shen Xi’s slender, pale legs.
The sharper this woman’s tongue was, the better her legs seemed to look.
The girl glared silently at him and pressed a hand against her skirt.
“Your vulgar aesthetic preferences aside, I did everything possible to assist you.
You can at least acknowledge that much.”
“Sorry.
Even then, I still can’t complete the assignment.”
Cheng Fei looked toward the window.
“I’m the type who keeps his feet on the ground.
I dislike deceiving myself with fantasies.
So I have a psychological aversion to taking care of myself that way.”
Then, before Shen Xi could respond, he added:
“Don’t misunderstand.
I’m not implying that you should do anything.
I’m simply stating a fact.”
“That is precisely why I despise so-called realists like you with your painfully limited vision.”
Shen Xi bit especially hard into the final few words.
Cheng Fei looked surprised.
“You read my academic-planning survey?”
“Yesterday.
So I also know your greatest dream is to pass the civil-service exam, find a comfortable position, and spend the rest of your life coasting.”
Shen Xi smiled mockingly.
“‘Realist’ was what I wrote under self-description.”
“Tch.
Sakura’s data security is somehow worse than a video game.”
“That is the normal state of human society.”
“True.
Geniuses like you can do whatever they want.
Someone like me, whose brain is merely decent, can’t afford to dream too big beyond civil service.”
Cheng Fei shifted into a more comfortable posture.
Shen Xi snorted.
“If you never fight for something, how do you know it’s beyond your reach?”
“And what happens if I fail and everything I invested turns to nothing?”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t regret trying.”
Shen Xi raised her chin.
“Then you’re braver than I am.
I’m from the cowardly school of thought.”
“That much is obvious.”
The girl nodded.
“So you really can’t do that assignment?”
“Impossible.”
“You even claimed to like me, yet you can’t imagine me while doing something like that.”
“Sorry.
I’m frivolous.
I made up the part about liking you.”
Shen Xi gave a soft snort.
Whether from contempt or disappointment, Cheng Fei couldn’t tell.
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.
Unless you personally helped.”
Cheng Fei paused, then shook his head.
“Actually, that probably wouldn’t count.”
Disgust appeared on Shen Xi’s face.
Her arm shielded her chest.
“You literally just said you weren’t implying that I should do anything.”
“That was then.
This is now.”
“Fine.
The project is temporarily canceled.”
Shen Xi took a deep breath.
“Temporarily?
I strongly recommend permanently.
Unless you intend to find someone else.”
“Other than you, I won’t find anyone else.”
“You absolutely need me for something like this?
I appreciate the favoritism, but it’s warped.”
“I don’t like you at all.
In fact, I’m starting to dislike you.
I simply have a psychological obsession with exclusivity and don’t want to discuss such matters with a second member of the opposite sex.”
Shen Xi’s face turned cold.
Cheng Fei nodded indifferently.
“There’s also the possibility that you’re a tsundere.”
“Then the project is permanently canceled.”
Apparently unwilling to continue discussing it, Shen Xi walked to the window and sat down, resuming work on the telescope.
Cheng Fei twirled his pen between his fingers while studying the complicated blackboard.
“By the way, shouldn’t you tell me now?”
Shen Xi ignored him.
“What exactly does this club do?
What are you researching?”
“The club name already makes it perfectly clear.”
“Normal people would assume it’s an ordinary group of game enthusiasts.
I’m technically an insider now.
How about an introduction, President?”
“Right.
I forgot that you short-sighted so-called realists tend to have poor comprehension.”
Shen Xi sighed and stood.
“If most people can’t understand you, perhaps reconsider your communication.”
Cheng Fei muttered the objection.
The afternoon sunlight was bright.
The room was filled with light as well.
On the girl’s exquisitely beautiful face was an indescribable seriousness and certainty.
“Listen carefully.
I’ll only say this once.”
She cleared her throat, planted both hands on the table, and stared directly into Cheng Fei’s eyes.
“I believe that the world of Corridor is a real place.”
“Players merely use full-dive helmets to manipulate bodies that actually exist in that world.”
“And the reason this club exists—my goal—is to investigate every possible avenue of evidence and prove that hypothesis.”
Her declaration rang through the room.
For a moment, it was as though Columbus had just announced the discovery of a new continent.
Even the dust drifting through the air seemed to sparkle around her.
After staring at her for a long time, Cheng Fei silently lowered his head.
His pen raced across the page.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
He resumed doing math exercises.
Shen Xi narrowed her eyes at him.
That afternoon, the boy and girl spoke no further.
…
After club activities ended, Cheng Fei slung his backpack over one shoulder and walked alone toward the school gate.
A long contrail stretched across the sky, dyed by the setting sun as it drifted toward some unknown destination.
Light footsteps sounded beside him.
Then came a casual voice.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?
I love clear skies at dusk.”
Cheng Fei turned from the sky.
The Japanese exchange student had fallen into step beside him, smiling gently.
Her hands were clasped behind her back.
Her burgundy cardigan had slipped playfully to her elbows.
She resembled the girl next door reunited with him after years apart, immediately lowering one’s guard.
When their eyes met, she blinked her clear, lively eyes.
“Nagasaki Asuna.”
“Cheng Fei.”
He exchanged names with her.
“Your Chinese is pretty good.”
“‘Pretty good’ means good?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
The girl rose slightly onto her toes.
Her clear eyes resembled autumn pools reflecting Cheng Fei’s figure.
“Really.”
This time Cheng Fei answered in Japanese.
The girl burst into laughter.
Her eyes curved into two watery crescents.
Cheng Fei suddenly felt that 8 Charm might actually be capable of defeating 9.
Beautiful girls gained bonus points when they smiled.
Nagasaki Asuna answered in Japanese while laughing:
“Thank you.”
“My pronunciation okay?”
“Not bad.
You sound a little like an anime character?”
She shook her head lightly, and the ends of her smooth hair swayed with the movement.
“I did learn from anime.”
Cheng Fei nodded.
After walking beside him for several steps, she tilted her head.
“Cheng Fei, did you join the Corridor Research Club?”
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
[ END 401 Chapter ]
Chainsaw Man: The Covenant of Flame Demon [Ss3 268 Chapter ]
The Problem Child Starts from Gensokyo [ 311 Chapter ]
Honkai star rail:Invincible From the Moment I Started Playing as Jing Yuan [Ss2 342 Chapter ]
FGO: Handcrafted Lostbelt, the Strongest is the Real History [ 198 Chapter ]
Honkai World: Kiana Doesn’t Need Redemption [ 318 Chapter ]
Astral Courtyard: One View from the Trailblazing Department!
[ 207 Chapter ]
Chat Group: My Character Card Refreshes Every Month [ 216 Chapter ]
American Comics: Armed with a Villainous Superhero Template.
[ 160 Chapter ]
Great.
Now we’re definitely screwed!
[Ss4 144 Chapter ]
Crossover: It All Begins with the Invasion of a Crimson Lord [ 160 Chapter ]
My Youthful Struggle with the Uma Musume Can’t Possibly Go Wrong [ 146 Chapter ]
At Tracen, I’m an Expert at Doing Time [ 141 Chapter ]
I’m a Trainer, and an Uma Musume Too!
[ 129 Chapter ]
Honkai Star Rail: Starting the Simulation by Planting a Credit Tree [ 106 Chapter ]
A Dimensional Journey Adrift with the Current [ 130 Chapter ]
Uma Musume:Trapped in the Game [ 112 Chapter ]
[ 106 Chapter ]